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Ben Henderson
Ben Henderson is the former UFC lightweight champion and the former WEC lightweight champion. He holds victories over such notable fighters as Josh Thomson, Gilbert Melendez, Frank Edgar (x2), Clay Guida, Nate Diaz, Jim Miller, Donald Cerrone (x2) and Jamie Varner. One Title To The Other: WEC to the UFC Henderson most recently attempted to defend his title against Anthony Pettis at the final WEC event. Pettis defeated Henderson via unanimous decision in an amazing fight to win the belt and a shot at the UFC title. The fight featured a kick dubbed the 'Pettis Kick', where Anthony ran up the side of the cage and dropped Henderson with a kick seemingly out of a Matrix movie. Henderson next made his UFC debut against well-rounded contender Mark Bocek. He defeated Bocek via an entertaining unanimous decision. He next faced highly-touted UFC contender Jim Miller. He dominated Miller en route to a unanimous decision victory, securing a Top 10 spot. Henderson next faced veteran Clay Guida. The winner of the fight would earn a shot in Japan at the UFC lightweight title held by Frank Edgar. Henderson defeated Guida via a close unanimous decision, earning the shot at Edgar in February 2012. Henderson next visited the land of his birth, Korea, training with the Korean Zombie Chang Sung Jung before the title bout against Edgar. Henderson fought ne arly the perfect fight against the gutsy champion, taking the title with an exciting unanimous decision victory in which he didn't have a mark on him and Edgar's left eye was swollen almost completely shut. Henderson had become the UFC lightweight champion of the world. UFC Lightweight Title Reign He was soon rumored to make his first title defense in a rematch against fellow former WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. Instead, Henderson agreed to defend his title in an immediate rematch against Edgar in the summer of 2012. This time, Edgar seemed to control the bout but Henderson was awarded an extremely controversial split decision victory to defend his UFC lightweight title for the first time. There would be no more rematches regardless, however. Henderson next made his second title defense against long-time contender Nate Diaz in December 2012. Henderson made a strong case for dominance of the lightweight division after dominating Diaz en route to a unanimous decision. Henderson was next rumored to welcome Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez and defend his own title for the third time against Melendez early in 2013. The fight was confirmed for April 2013 as a title unification bout. Henderson and Melendez went back and forth for the full twenty-five minutes allotted to them and the judges ended up awarding Henderson the razor-thin split decision victory to retain his UFC lightweight title for the third time. Henderson then successfully proposed to his longtime girlfriend afterwards in the cage live on Fox. Post-fight, UFC officials announced that the winner of a fight between contenders Gray Maynard and TJ Grant would receive the next shot at Henderson's title. Grant scored an upset knockout win over Maynard and was set to be Henderson's opponent for the attempted fourth defense of his belt. Unfortunately Grant was injured and replaced by former WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. The fight would be a rematch of the two rivals' memorable fight for the WEC lightweight title in the promotion's final war. Pettis defeated Henderson via first round armbar submission to take his UFC lightweight title and denying him his fourth title defense. Henderson stated that he would be back better than ever. The Road Back To The Title After a prudently brisk layoff Henderson accepted contender Rafael Dos Anjos's challenge in late October 2013. The fight did not materialize. Henderson instead fought former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson in January 2014. The winner was suspected to earn a shot at Pettis as Henderson was replacing the injured champion. Henderson won the fight via a controversial split decision as many believed Thomson had done enough to pull out the victory. The judges disagreed. About a month later in February 2014 Henderson exchanged words - though respectful -- with Russian prospect Rustam Khabilov on Twitter. The two all but signed on for a fight in June. A few days after the exchange Henderson admitted to having mistaken Khabilov for Khabib Nurmagomedov but still wanted to fight Khabilov. The two did fight with Khabilov showing he belonged in the cage with Henderson making for a competitive matchup. Henderson ended up securing his first UFC finish with a fourth round rear-naked choke submission. He wasted little time in next signing to fight Rafael Dos Anjos. Dos Anjos knocked Henderson out in the first round dashing Henderson's hopes of getting back to the title picture quickly. After Dos Anjos Henderson was next set to fight former Bellator LW champ Eddie Alvarez but Alvarez was injured and replaced by Donald Cerrone for what would be the third fight between Cerrone and Henderson. Cerrone won an extremely close unanimous decision. Henderson next moved up to welterweight stating his intentions to alternate between the weight classes, replacing Stephen Thompson against prospect Brandon Thatch and defeating Thatch via fourth round rear-naked choke submission. Henderson was then set to fight Thiago Alves in the UFC's first South Korean event but Alves was replaced by Jorge Masvidal who Henderson defeated via a very close split decision. The fight was the last on Henderson's UFC contract and he decided not to renew it. Bellator Henderson next signed with Bellator scoring an immediate shot at the Bellator welterweight title against Andrey Koreshkov who dominated Henderson en route to a unanimous decision. Henderson then reportedly considered retirement and enlistment in the U.S. military. Instead Henderson dropped down to lightweight to fight former Bellator featherweight champion and lightweight newcomer Patricio Freire. The winner would receive the next shot at newly crowned lightweight champion Michael Chandler. Fights *Ben Henderson vs. Diego Saraiva *Ben Henderson vs. Shane Roller *Ben Henderson vs. Donald Cerrone 2 - The fight was for the WEC lightweight title with Henderson defending. *Anthony Pettis vs. Ben Henderson - The fight was for the final defense of the WEC lightweight title with Henderson defending. The fight was also to decide the number-one contender for the UFC lightweight title. The infamous Pettis kick was unleashed in this fight by Anthony Pettis himself. *Ben Henderson vs. Mark Bocek - The fight was the UFC debut of Ben Henderson. *Ben Henderson vs. Jim Miller - The fight was a significant upset. *Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida - The fight was for a shot at UFC lightweight champion Frank Edgar. The fight was surely a top contender for Fight of Year, 2011. *Ben Henderson vs. Frank Edgar - The fight was for the UFC lightweight title with Frank Edgar defending. *Frank Edgar vs. Ben Henderson 2 - The fight was for the UFC lightweight title with Henderson defending. *Ben Henderson vs. Nate Diaz - The fight was for the UFC lightweight title with Henderson defending. *Donald Cerrone vs. Ben Henderson 3 *Ben Henderson vs. Brandon Thatch *Ben Henderson vs. Jorge Masvidal *Andrey Koreshkov vs. Ben Henderson - The fight was for the Bellator welterweight title with Andrey Koreshkov defending. The fight was the Bellator debut of Henderson. Category:Lightweight fighters Category:WEC lightweight champions Category:UFC lightweight champions Category:Bellator fighters